Portsmouth’s latest under-the-radar injury with striker added to crippling sidelined list

Blues boss John Mousinho revealed the Aussie striker has been sidelined by a groin injury, which has halted his progress after arriving at Fratton Park last month.

Waddingham has been in the treatment room for the past couple of weeks and wasn’t available for the wins against Oxford United and QPR.

The good news is Mousinho is upbeat the issue is not too significant, with the hope the 19-year-old will be available for selection against Leeds next week.

Waddingham is an under-the-radar addition to a list of players which contains a whopping 13 names, who are either unavailable or doubts for the trip to Luton Town this weekend.

Mousinho was staying tight-lipped on the fitness of Hayden Matthews (ankle), Rob Atkinson (calf), Isaac Hayden (ankle), Zak Swanson (hamstring), Mark O’Mahony (groin) and Freddie Potts (calf) ahead of the trip to Kenilworth Road.

Conor Shaughnessy (hamstring) and Jordan Williams (hamstring) are out, with the season over for Ibane Bowat (knee), Callum Lang (hamstring), Paddy Lane (knee) and Jacob Farrell (knee). Now Waddingham to that group, after making two app.earances following his arrival from Brisbane Roar

Mousinho said: ‘Tom felt his groin slightly in training. He’s not too bad and should be available soon, if not for the weekend then the Leeds game.

‘There was a couple of squads where he was out of it on a selection basis, where we just had the numbers over the past couple of weeks.

‘He travelled with us to a couple of away games, he travelled to Sheffield United and was there with us as the 21st man. He then did the same for Cardiff where he was the 21st man and then tweaked it around the Oxford game - so he wasn’t available for the QPR game.’

‘Ahead of where we expected him to be’

Despite Waddingham being sidelined after his selection omission for a couple of games, Mousinho feels the striker is well in advance of where he was anticipated to be at this early stage of his Pompey career.

He added: ‘He’s ahead of where we expected him to be.

‘I didn’t expect him to come in and have an impact that quickly at first-team level where we put him on against West Brom and he scored, and then put him on against Millwall. So I think he’s ahead of where we thought he’d be and we’re really pleased for Tom.

‘I’ve said when I left him out of the squad there’s nothing to worry about and it’s nothing he’s done. It’s just a few more experienced players coming back and a few bodies around, so he’s ahead of schedule.’